Arkansas+Dept.+of+Human+Services+v.+Caldwell

 **ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Appellant, v. Pat CALDWELL, Appellee. **  No. CA 91-296.  **Court of Appeals of Arkansas, Division II. **  June 24, 1992. 

 Three Fifth graders who were caught smoking in the bathroom were paddled by Caldwell in September 1988. Two girls received three lashes for actually smoking and a third girl was paddled once for being there and not smoking. One of the girls’ mother notice bruising on her daughter’s buttocks and reported it to the Baxter County Division of Children and Family Services. The case worker assigned to the case determined that there was “substantiated” evidence that determined abuse was in-fact involved and reported the case to the States Central Registry. In 1989 a hearing was held at the request of Caldwell to see if her name could be removed from the registry. During this hearing the decision was reversed and the Apelles’s name was stricken from the record. That is when this appeal took place. 
 * Background:**
 * Decision and Rationale:**

The final decision was that there was not enough evidence to determine that the paddling resulted in abuse. The pictures were not enough evidence and the caseworker’s testimony stated that the paddling was not abusive. In the end, “the circuit court’s finding of no credible evidence to support the allegation of abuse, and its finding that the punishment was not excessive or abusive.” Anything else was not addressed for it was not necessary. This court’s decision was final.


 * Impact on Teaching**

This case must have taken place in a private school or during a time when paddling was legal because today, at least not in Georgia, this would not have gone in Caldwell’s favor. I believe that teachers are aware that paddling is not permitted in the public school system and if there is any physical discipline there will be consequences whether there is evidence of abuse or not. Corporal punishment is banned in approximately 30 states in the United States. While there are still schools out there with the paddle ready for use, there needs to be guidelines and conformity in place so that situations such as this court case do not surface. ** Quiz Question  ** ** What type of evidence was the determining factor in this case? **      

** Completed by Sandra Crum and Alex Mathis  **

